Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.

The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

I had really hoped that Cataclysm might give Blizzard an opportunity to fix the awful boundaries they use in-game (rectangular walls of mountain round 80% of the zones). The three reasons, to my mind, why they were there in the first place was:

1. We couldn't see much from the ground, it didn't matter.
2. To make sure low-levelled players didn't stray over an open boarder into some high-level zone (i.e. Tirisfal > EPL, the Bulwark made sure that, at the very least, you were aware you were crossing into some new area).
3. To save time, from a design perspective: you don't have to blend two distinctive zones together, or work to make them form a continuous landscape, you can just create each one as a stand alone piece and then fix them together.

Reasons 1 and 2 were, obviously, removed as issues in Cataclysm: we could fly, so the clumsy boarders are painfully obvious and the new level flow means, generally, there aren't nearly so many big, sudden jumps up in levels. Even, arguably, 3 shouldn't have been an issue anymore, after all, Blizzard didn't actually redesign that much of the environment of the zones (some, admittedly, were drastically changed, but if we're talking generally about big features: lakes, mountains, forests, and the like; these largely remained unchanged), so I had hoped they spend a little time making the landscape fit together a little more naturally (Northrend, as a general rule, did a much nicer job of it and Outland was a step in the right direction). But it seems this was one 'design philosophy' which wasn't brought into Cata.

Sorry for the mini-rant... It's just something which I've always thought has looked hideous and really damaged any attempt to view Azeroth as a geographically realistic setting.

I had really hoped that Cataclysm might give Blizzard an opportunity to fix the awful boundaries they use in-game (rectangular walls of mountain round 80% of the zones). The three reasons, to my mind, why they were there in the first place was:

1. We couldn't see much from the ground, it didn't matter.
2. To make sure low-levelled players didn't stray over an open boarder into some high-level zone (i.e. Tirisfal > EPL, the Bulwark made sure that, at the very least, you were aware you were crossing into some new area).
3. To save time, from a design perspective: you don't have to blend two distinctive zones together, or work to make them form a continuous landscape, you can just create each one as a stand alone piece and then fix them together.

Reasons 1 and 2 were, obviously, removed as issues in Cataclysm: we could fly, so the clumsy boarders are painfully obvious and the new level flow means, generally, there aren't nearly so many big, sudden jumps up in levels. Even, arguably, 3 shouldn't have been an issue anymore, after all, Blizzard didn't actually redesign that much of the environment of the zones (some, admittedly, were drastically changed, but if we're talking generally about big features: lakes, mountains, forests, and the like; these largely remained unchanged), so I had hoped they spend a little time making the landscape fit together a little more naturally (Northrend, as a general rule, did a much nicer job of it and Outland was a step in the right direction). But it seems this was one 'design philosophy' which wasn't brought into Cata.

Sorry for the mini-rant... It's just something which I've always thought has looked hideous and really damaged any attempt to view Azeroth as a geographically realistic setting.

It is a hideous and damaged setting, and you're right that the designers shouldn't be taking the lazy way out. However, you have to remember that blending zones is much more difficult than you'd think. When you blend a zone as a designer, you have to make sure that it's distinctive enough across areas that not only are players given sense that it's a new zone, but also that it's not a monotonous stretch of forest or desert.

One thing we can do is help give designers feedback to work with that complete the two above missions. If you can help (through suggestions) increase the sense of player realism without reducing player use of the area, you'll help improve the game world for yourself and others.

Also, in terms of lore/canon, you can always say that the Cataclysm was only the start of Deathwing's plans, and that Azeroth is still in a state of geologic flux, giving more room to change the world even after the initial changes hit.

They NEED to add this lighting as a switch in the interface, like "Real world night" or something, and make nighttime dark like that. Make it a switch so whiners don't whine, and you now have a whole new realistic and badass artistic set to your game. Stormwind gate with that nighting is breathtaking.